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Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, July 27, 2017

FirstNet Coverage During the quest to obtain enough nationwide broadband spectrum for public safety, the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) and its member organizations worked industriously to convince members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs, the FCC, and the Executive Branch of the federal government that public safety needed more broadband spectrum than had been assigned to them (10 MHz, 5X5 MHz). The result of this multi-year effort was that Congress listened and in the legislation that created FirstNet, public safety was assigned 20 MHz (10X10 MHz) of spectrum (referred to as Band 14). This spectrum is in the 700-MHz band adjacent to the Public Safety Land Mobile Radio spectrum on one side and Verizon’s 700-MHz spectrum on the other side. It is ideal for longer range and better in-building penetration.

It was always assumed by the public safety community that the winning bidder of the FirstNet RFP would, of course, build out the FirstNet spectrum nationwide. Even with a full 20 MHz of spectrum to which public safety has pre-emptive access, there were still some concerns from a number of us that during an incident contained in a small area served by only one or two cell sectors, there would still be times when the network reached its maximum capacity. When AT&T won the contract and became the partner for FirstNet, it did not specify its build-out plans publicly. However, at the recent Senate Sub-committee, AT&T’s plans for the build-out were presented to those on the committee and picked up by the press. AT&T’s decision is to build out FirstNet spectrum where it is needed for capacity but nowhere else (See Urgent Communications ). Read the entire blog HERE The Discovery Patterns News Recap for the week is below:

New Jersey Joins FirstNet – Broadcasting & Cable via Google AlertsJul 26 13:35New Jersey has been at the forefront of public safety broadband, and with Governor Christie’s decision to join FirstNet, the state is once again leading …

Verizon Requests Clarity on FirstNet State-Deployed LTE Cores – MissionCriticalJul 26 10:04Verizon Wireless asked the FCC to clarify whether a state may deploy a separate network core from the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) if it chooses to opt out of the FirstNet and AT&T state plan. read more

First Early Builder State New Jersey Opts in to FirstNet – MissionCriticalJul 27 10:05Gov. Chris Christie opted in to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). A statement said FirstNet and AT&T will deliver a specialized wireless broadband network to New Jersey’s public-safety community, although details about the state’s early builder project integration are scarce. read more

Senator Doesn’t Buy FCC Justification For Killing Popular Net Neutrality Protections – Techdirt Corporate IntelligenceJul 26 15:05So we’ve noted for years now how incumbent ISPs love to breathlessly insist that net neutrality protections “stifled broadband industry investment,” despite the fact that publicly-available SEC filings, earnings reports, and the ISPs’ own public statements on this subject have repeatedly proven this claim false . Traditionally, large ISPs like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter have employed industry-friendly economists to massage and cherry pick the data until it looks like a slowdown occu

New Jersey opts-in to FirstNet network – Telecompaper via Google AlertsJul 26 11:25With the decision, FirstNet and AT&T will deliver a wireless broadband network to New Jersey’s public safety community. The network will carry the …

FCC Requests Comment on WiMAX Forum’s AeroMACS Petition – MissionCriticalJul 20 10:03The FCC requested comment on a petition filed by the WiMAX Forum that proposed service rules for the Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS). AeroMACS refers to a collection of high data rate wireless networks that are used in accordance with international standards for airport surface operations to provide broadband communications between aircraft and other vehicles, as well as between fixed critical assets. read more

The challenge of connectivity in remote/rural areas – Business Review Europe via Google AlertsJul 20 05:26One answer lies in investing in narrow-band connectivity services provided by nano-satellites. Building a constellation of nano-satellites which covers …